IT’S BAIN, YOU ID-GITS, TRUMP IS A DISTRACTION!

President Obama Names Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients

Remarks by the President at Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremony

A new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimates that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) increased the number of people employed by between 200,000 and 1.5 million jobs in March.[1]   In other words, between 200,000 and 1.5 million people employed in March owed their jobs to the Recovery Act.  This estimate, by Congress’ non-partisan economic and budget analysts, is more comprehensive than the 160,000 jobs that ARRA recipients reported in April, CBO explains.

Mitt Romney LIES:

As Mike Allen of Politico explains today, the Romney campaign and American Crossroads are undertaking a sustained attack (uncoordinated, of course, since coordination would be illegal) on the Obama administration’s economy policies

Mitt Romney’s campaign events and the firepower of American Crossroads will both focus this week on President Barack Obama’s jobs record as a way to fight off charges about the Republican candidate’s private-sector experience, with a Romney aide attacking the stimulus as “the mother of all earmarks….”

A senior campaign aide said Romney will argue that Obama has actually subtracted jobs: “Were these investments the best return on tax dollars, or given for ideological reasons, to donors, for political reasons? He spent $800 billion of everybody’s money. How’d it work out?”

“It was the mother of all earmarks, not a jobs plan,” the aide said. “By wasting all of this money, you had the worst of all worlds: It destroyed confidence in the economy and makes people less likely to borrow money. Dodd-Frank has been a disaster for the economy. Where are the steady hands? Who’s in charge of energy? Where’s the strong, confident voice on the economy?”

HERE’S MITT ROMNEY’S ECONOMIC PLAN FOR AMERICA:

 

So here are ten questions for anyone who supports the Ryan budget:

1) Do you support eliminating the child tax credit?

2) Do you support eliminating the deduction for mortgage interest?

3) Do you support eliminating the National Weather Service and all of NOAA?

4) Do you support eliminating Pell Grants and student loans?

5) Do you support ending all federal spending on highways, air traffic control, and other forms of transportation?

6) Do you support shutting down FEMA?

7) Do you support shutting down federal prisons, the FBI, and other federal law enforcement agencies?

8) Do you support ending all foreign aid — including Israel?

9) Do you support eliminating NASA?

10) Do you support eliminating the FDA and all food safety inspections?

From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Statement of Robert Greenstein, President, on Chairman Ryan’s Budget Plan

Under Chairman Ryan’s budget, our nation would be a very different one — less fair and less generous, with an even wider gap between the very well-off and everyone else (especially between rich and poor) — and our society would be a coarser one.

It need not be this way. In 1990, 1993, and 1997, policymakers enacted major deficit reduction packages that reduced deficits in a more balanced way, without increasing poverty. Deficit reduction does not require the Scrooge-like, Gilded-Age policies that the Ryan plan embodies. Our nation and our people are better, and they deserve better.

And I love this clip:

Obama Presses Journalists On False Equivalence

Check out this great piece from Deaniac83 from The People’s View.

What they won’t tell you: +827,000 private sector jobs in 2012

Dont’ get it twisted, MOFOs.

As Mitt Romney prepares to become the bonafide GOP Presidential candidate tonight after the Texas primary, his obvious scheme to hide behind John “Grampy” McCain yesterday in San Diego and tonight at a Las Vegas Fundraiser with Donald the “Birther-in-Chief’ Trump continues to show Americans with any sanity just how EMPTY  he is.

MEANWHILE….

New York Times: Romney Courts Trump’s Dollars, but Shuns His Message

CNN: Romney doesn’t back away from ‘birther’ Trump

Los Angeles Times: Trump doubles down on ‘birther’ beliefs prior to Romney fundraiser

Washington Post:  Mitt Romney’s losing gamble on Donald Trump

ABC: Mitt Romney Says He Needs Donald Trump’s Support Despite Views on Obama’s Birth Certificate

Bloomberg BusinessWeek: Trump Fundraiser Tonight Carries Political Risk for Mitt Romney

Talking Points Memo:  Donald Trump Lets Loose With Birther Rant After Romney Reaffirms Support

Think Progress:  Former GOP Congressman: Romney Is Tolerating Birther Trump To Raise Money

MSNBC, Maddow Blog:  Another missed opportunity to lead

Politico: Mitt won’t dump Trump

NBC: Romney plays with fire in Trump association

The Hill: Trump, Romney’s surrogate, is on ‘birther’ offensive

Atlantic: Why Won’t Mitt Romney Disavow Birther Donald Trump?

CBS: Romney defends fundraising with Trump

Salon: Mitt Romney, birther abettor

Los Angeles Times: Romney ‘appreciative’ of Trump but may not always agree with him

CNN: Obama campaign: Why doesn’t Romney push back against Trump ‘birther’ questions?

WHICH CABLE STATION IS MISSING?  HINT:  It’s owned by CLEAR CHANNEL, AND CLEAR CHANNEL IS OWNED BY BAIN.

Which brings us back to BAIN CAPITAL.  You can’t hide from BAIN, Mitt Romney!

It’s time for Willard’s Lies of the week.

Once again, I will point out the site on the blog roll: Romney The Liar: because there are Liars, Damn Liars, and then there’s Mitt Romney.

Steve Benen, now at The Maddow Blog:. Here’s last week’s entry of Chronicling Mitt’s mendacity:

Chronicling Mitt’s Mendacity, Vol. XIX
By Steve Benen – Fri May 25, 2012 2:32 PM EDT.

Campaigning in Iowa yesterday, President Obama reflected on some of Mitt Romney’s recent speeches, including last week’s remarks in Iowa. “I know Governor Romney came to Des Moines last week; warned about a ‘prairie fire of debt,’” Obama said. “But he left out some facts. His speech was more like a cow pie of distortion. I don’t know whose record he twisted the most — mine or his.”

It was a rhetorical point, of course, but when it comes to Romney’s falsehoods, I’m not sure whose record he twists more, either. Maybe you can help me decide by taking a look at the 19th installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt’s mendacity.

1. In an interview with Mark Halperin, Romney argued about President Obama, “Did he hold unemployment below 8%? It’s been, what, 39 months now. That hasn’t happened. He promised it would happen by virtue of his stimulus.”

As Romney surely knows by now, that’s simply not true.

2. In the same interview, Romney asked, “Are people happy with … the level of foreclosures?”

Romney was trying to attack the administration, but he’s on record supporting more foreclosures, making this, at a minimum, wildly misleading.

3. Romney added, in reference to the president, ” Look at him right now. He just doesn’t have a clue what to do to get this economy going. I do.”

Actually, Obama’s jobs agenda, unveiled in September, included specific policy proposals that Romney had previously endorsed. If the president “doesn’t have a clue,” then Romney doesn’t have a clue.

 

4. Romney went on to say, “I actually lay out a plan to get us to a balanced budget within eight years.”

That’s plainly false. Romney says his plan “can’t be scored,” but independent budget analysts have found his agenda would make the deficit bigger, not smaller, and add trillions to the national debt.

5. Romney also argued, in the context of talking about budget savings, “I’m going to take action immediately by eliminating programs like Obamacare, which become more and more expensive down the road — by eliminating them, we get to a balanced budget.”

He’s lying. In fact, this is the polar opposite of the truth — Obamacare’s savings become greater in future years, and killing the law makes it harder to balance the budget.

——————————————————————————–

6. Romney said, in addressing likely budget cuts, ” I’d like my grandkids to be able to watch PBS. But I’m not willing to borrow money from China.”

The implication here is that U.S. debt is financed by the Chinese. This isn’t true — China only holds about 8% of the nation’s debt.

7. On taxes, Romney argued, “I’m not looking to lower the tax burden paid by the highest-income Americans. That’s a fundamental principle.”

That’s a fundamental falsehood. Romney’s plan slashes taxes on the wealthy.

8. On a related note, he added, “I’m looking, if there’s any break at all, the break will go to middle-income Americans that have been most hurt by the Obama economy.”

In reality, it’s the rich, not the middle class, that primarily benefits from Romney’s tax plan.

9. In a speech in Washington, Romney insisted, “President Obama has decided to attack success.”

The Romney campaign has never been able to point to a single credible example of Obama attacking success.

10. In the same speech, Romney added, “When the President took office … he faced a spending crisis. It’s only gotten worse.”

There is no universe in which this is even close to being true.

11. In making the case against Obama’s student-loan reforms, the Romney campaign said it intends to “reverse President Obama’s nationalization of the student loan market.”

This is demonstrably false — the market wasn’t nationalized. Since all kinds of private-sector banks still make all kinds of student loans, the argument doesn’t even make sense.

12. Romney told Fox News that “it certainly sounds like” the president is, as Rush Limbaugh put it, “running against capitalism.” Romney added, “There’s no question but that he’s attacking capitalism.”

No sensible person could possibly believe this is true, and neither Romney nor his aides have ever provided an example of the president attacking capitalism. Obama routinely does the opposite.

13. Romney argued in an op-ed that Obama “signed into law a budget scheme that threatens to saddle the U.S. military with nearly $1 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years,” which the president’s own Defense Secretary criticized.

That’s not even close to being accurate.

14. Referencing Noam Scheiber’s book, The Escape Artists, Romney argued, “In this book, [White House officials] point out that they said the American people will forget how long the recovery took. So that means they went into this knowing that when they passed Obamacare, it was going to make life harder for the American people.”

That’s not really what the book says, and it’s not what the president’s team argued.

15. Romney boasted this week, in a rare reference to his one term as governor, “[W]e didn’t just slow the rate of growth of our government, we actually cut it.”

No, you didn’t.

16. The Romney campaign also argued this week that Romney created “well in excess of 100,000″ jobs as an executive at Bain Capital.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Wiki: Fantasia Monique Barrino (born June 30, 1984),[1] commonly known simply as Fantasia, is an American R&B singer and actress. She rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality television series American Idol in 2004. Following her victory, she released her debut single, “I Believe”, which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequently, she released her debut album, Free Yourself, which went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAA and garnered Barrino three Grammy nominations in 2006.

In 2006, she released her second album, Fantasia, which featured the single “When I See U” which topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for eight weeks. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA and received three Grammy nominations in 2008. She then played the part of Celie in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, for which she won a 2007 Theatre World Award. Her third studio album, Back to Me, was released worldwide on August 24, 2010 and features the single “Bittersweet,” which peaked in the top ten on the R&B chart. The single won her a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. As of February 2012, Barrino has sold 2,842,000 albums and 1,425,000 tracks in the United States.[2]

May 28, 2012- Veterans Give Romney Big Lead Over Obama

WHAT HAS MITT ROMNEY AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DONE FOR VETERANS, LATELY?

In an effort to mislead Americans about President Obama’s proposal for the TRICARE program for military retirees, Mitt Romney falsely accused the President of slashing benefits for military retirees. “He’s going after TRICARE,” Romney said. “Saying, ‘Ok, we’re going to raise the co-pays. We’re going to cut the benefits.’ Why is it we go after military families?”

Mitt Romney LIES!

Here’s a transcript of the health care portions:

DAVID MCARTHUR, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: You know, sir, and I thank you so much for that. But it’s his brothers. That’s his concern. You know, the [Department of Veterans Affairs] today is a nightmare. Just a nightmare to deal through to try and get any service out of them.

You know, [traumatic brain injury] victims wait. When they come home they wait six months for their first check. Again, please, sir.

MITT ROMNEY: Yes.

MCARTHUR: Please.

ROMNEY: Yes. I understand that the — the benefit recovery period, the time it takes to get benefits paid has been lengthened dramatically under this administration. And — and I’ve got a son who works in health care. He’s a doctor. He’s in residency.

And — and he works at the V.A. Hospital sometimes as part of his training. Then he works in regular hospitals. And he says, “You know, dad, the V.A. Hospital isn’t getting, you know, the same level of care and attention that sometimes exists in the private hospitals in the public hospitals.”

We need to recognize that those who served this country in our uniform have a special place in our hearts. And we have to care for them. And — and the American people feel that. No question in my mind but that they recognize that we have a huge obligation to those who served our country. And I certainly feel that way.

<b>One of the things I can’t understand. Right now the president is cutting back on spending. And that’s something that has to happen. But he’s only cutting back in the military. He’s going after Tricare. Saying “OK, we’re going to — we’re going to raise the co-pays. We’re going to cut the benefits.” Why is it we go after military families?

Why isn’t he going after government workers that are represented by the big government unions? I think I know the answer. My view is we care for our soldiers. We care for our soldiers and — and their families first. That’s our responsibility as a nation.<b>

MCARTHUR: Regulations, regulations, regulations. Right now, one of — the major one that’s killing us, sir, is health care. On Wednesday, our employees saw their new health care plan, 2012. The deductible went from $2,250 to $6,000.

People were mad. Tears were visible. Medical savings plans that mothers depend on were gutted. You say you’re going to eliminate “Obamacare,” but replace it with what?

TRUTH  Romney is wrong to claim that President Obama plans cuts to health care for military retirees

Romney is completely mischaracterizing the President’s proposal while ignoring the reasons why such a policy is necessary. TRICARE spending has more than doubled since 1999, with military personnel costs making up approximately 34% of the Defense Department’s annual base budget. A moderate increase in premiums would help maintain the TRICARE program’s sustainability while still making sure that military retirees pay significantly less for their coverage than comparable private or public sector options.

That’s why the Joint Chiefs and senior enlisted military leaders support the proposal, as well as quite a few Republicans. Senator Lindsey Graham said, “It’s hard to ask those who’ve done the most to secure our freedom to give more, but I’m willing to do it,” noting that “if we don’t do something in terms of health care growth and entitlement retiree benefits, you’re going to compete the retired force with operational needs and that’s just not where we want to go. Senator John McCain also supported similar cost-saving changes to TRICARE, noting that “national health care costs have risen significantly.”

To say that the President is cutting benefits for veterans and military families before all else is wholly untrue. President Obama believes we have a sacred trust with those who wear the uniform of the United States of America and that “it’s a commitment that begins at enlistment and must never end.” Here are just a few of the ways President Obama has put veterans’ health care and well-being first:

• President Obama boosted the Veterans Affairs budget to ensure veterans receive timely access to necessary benefits and services they’ve earned. By signing the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, the President secured funding for veterans’ medical care a year in advance so that the VA can operate with sufficient and predictable funding. His policies will help make sure that over 500,000 veterans who were previously denied care will be eligible for VA health care by 2013. Looking forward, President Obama has also requested a 10.5% increase in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs in his budget for 2013.
• The President also put in place and improved the most generous educational benefit for veterans since the original G.I. Bill of 1944. The maximum benefit under this bill will allow veterans, service members, Reservists and National Guard members to receive an in-state, undergraduate education at a public institution at no cost.
• Under the VOW to Hire Heroes Act signed by President Obama, businesses will receive a maximum $9,600 tax credit for hiring veterans with service connected disabilities who have been unemployed for six months or longer. The President has also proposed a Veterans Jobs Corp to put up to 20,000 veterans back to work over the next five years and has challenged businesses to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013.

In contrast to President Obama’s plan for veterans, Romney said his plan would be to privatize veterans’ benefits by “creating a voucher system.” Like the vouchers in his Medicare privatization plan, these vouchers, as the New York Times’ Paul Krugman points out, would “be inadequate, and become more so over time, so that veterans who don’t make enough money to top them up would fail to receive essential care.”

Romney’s plan to cut spending would force the same difficult choices that Republicans like Sen. Graham warned against. If Romney spared entitlements like Social Security and cut all other programs equally, he would have to slash veterans’ benefits by $456 billion over the next decade.

Romney Budget Proposals Would Require Massive Cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Other Programs

Excerpt: 

For the most part, Governor Romney has not outlined cuts in specific programs.  But if policymakers exempted Social Security from the cuts, as Romney has suggested, and cut Medicare, Medicaid, and all other entitlement and discretionary programs by the same percentage — to meet Romney’s spending cap, defense spending target, and balanced budget requirement —  then non-defense programs other than Social Security would have to be cut 29 percent in 2016 and 59 percent in 2022 (see Figure 1).  Without the balanced budget requirement, the cuts would be smaller but still massive, reaching 40 percent in 2022.

The cuts that would be required under the Romney budget proposals in programs such as veterans’ disability compensation, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for poor elderly and disabled individuals, SNAP (formerly food stamps), and child nutrition programs would move millions of households below the poverty line or drive them deeper into poverty.

And this from Veterans News Now:   Mitt Romney Tells CPAC He’ll Cut Social Security Benefits, Begin Privatizing Medicare & Remember: Mitt Romney Wants to Privatize Veterans’ Care with Vouchers

Please check out this thorough and timely article from Rmuse:

GOP Dishonors Veterans’ Sacrifice with Benefit Cuts and Privatized Healthcare Schemes
By: RmuseMay 28, 2012

Excerpt:  “When most Americans today are honoring veterans’ sacrifice, Romney is six months into promoting giving veterans vouchers for their healthcare benefits to enrich the health care industry, and it informs where his true loyalties lie. Instead of increasing funding to care for the men and women who served in the military, Romney hopes to cheat them out of the benefits they earned. Romney’s hero and Republican’s courageous fiscal guru’s budget that passed in the Republican House of Representatives cuts $11 billion from veteran’s spending, or 13% less than President Obama proposes in his budget. In fact, in the nearly 100-page Ryan Path to Prosperity budget, the word veteran is not mentioned one time. Romney’s privatization scam would “be inadequate, and become more so over time, so that veterans who don’t make enough money to top them up would fail to receive essential care” according to noted economist Paul Krugman.

Republicans are warmongers who love sending America’s soldiers into harm’s way, but are ill-inclined to care for them after their service is over. Bush underfunded the Department of Veterans Affairs by approximately a billion dollars in 2005, and it took Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs, Jim Nicholson, begging Congress to pass emergency supplemental spending until they finally acted just to keep the doors open.”

The Obama Administation has been committed to serving American’s veterans.

President Obama is committed to keeping the sacred trust we hold with members of our armed forces.

• President Obama fulfilled his promise to responsibly end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home.
• The President has fought to expand and improve benefits for veterans and their families—including an historic increase in funding for veterans health care and an expanded GI Bill to make higher education and skills training available to those who serve.

• President Obama signed into law the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior tax credits to encourage businesses to hire unemployed veterans and veterans with service-connected disabilities.

 • The President also took executive actions to help returning veterans find the jobs they deserve, including programs to match veterans with potential employers and personalized career counseling for returning service members.

SACRED TRUST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO7jeIOh4F0&feature=player_embedded

With all the work and support the Obama administration is doing to support our military families and veterans.

And then there’s this from THINK PROGRESS:

More Than One Million Veterans Would Benefit From Obamacare | Under the Affordable Care Act, about 630,000 uninsured veterans would qualify for Medicaid, and an additional 520,000 would receive subsidized health insurance in the state exchanges, according to a study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “It is striking how many of the uninsured veterans would qualify for Medicaid under the ACA,” said the report’s co-author Genevieve Kenney. Nationwide, 1.3 million veterans are uninsured, and another 900,000 veterans use VA care but have no other insurance coverage. On top of that, about 900,000 adults and children in veterans’ families are uninsured.

From Gallup:  “Why veterans are so strong in their preference for the Republican presidential candidate is not clear. Previous Gallup analysis has suggested that two processes may be at work. Men who serve in the military may become socialized into a more conservative orientation to politics as a result of their service. Additionally, men who in the last decades have chosen to enlist in the military may have a more Republican orientation to begin with.”

And then there’s this Reuters Poll: Obama leads in veteran vote by up to 7 percent   WHICH POLL IS TRUTH?

What form of media do Veterans connect with most?  If you’re habitually listening to any of these talking-heads, the INDOCTRINATION is embedded in your DNA.

THEY’RE WHITE, REBUPLICAN, AND RICH! 

And as per usual some of these white folks (VETERANS) in this instance, will vote against their own best interest EVERYTIME.  The way I see it from my life experience, Black folks don’t VOTE against their better interest.  The 2012 election comes down to FAKE POLLS, LYING PUNDITS, & white folks fears.

IF ANYONE CAN THINK OF OTHER REASONS WHY THESE POLL NUMBERS ARE ACCURATE AND WHY, PLEASE DROP ME THE 411.  THANK YOU!

Reblogged from The ObamaCrat.Com™:

• 

By Jueseppi B.

UPDATE (11:45 a.m. EDT) –AFP reports that the Free Syrian Army is no longer committed to Kofi Annan’s peace plan.

(Reuters) – The United Nations said on Saturday that more than 92 people were killed in what activists said was an artillery barrage by government forces in the worst violence since the start of a U.N. peace plan to slow the flow of blood in Syria’s uprising.

Read more… 862 more words

This madness is UNACCEPTABLE. Jueseppi, you blog on the horrid truths that most Americans don't want to KNOW about. Keep spreading the truth.

Photos of President Obama laying a Wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns and ceremony at Arlington Cemetary.

Updated with video